He’s from Hawaii, where tourism is the No. 1 industry. But 80 to 90 percent of the island state’s food is shipped in, prompting Johnson a decade ago to form the nonprofit Kokua Hawaii Foundation to promote environmental education and support local agriculture.

Turns out those are the precise goals of Farm Aid, the 28-year-old organization that holds an annual all-star concert featuring organizers Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews.

So when Farm Aid makes its first stop in eastern Pennsylvania Saturday Sept. 22 for its 27th anniversary concert, Johnson will be among the performers. The lineup also includes Kenny Chesney, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals and a half-dozen others.

Farm Aid will be one of just two shows Johnson will play this summer; the other was a benefit for Rock The Vote, an organization designed to raise voter awareness among young people, at nearby Penn State on Wednesday.

Johnson has been hugely successful. His last three studio albums, including the soundtrack to the 2005 film “Curious George,” all hit No. 1, and all except his most recent, 2001’s “To The Sea,” have gone platinum.

In a recent telephone call from a vehicle headed to the airport in his home state of Hawaii, Johnson spoke about his career, his work with charity groups and his connection to Farm Aid.

Here’s a transcript of the call:

JACK JOHNSON: “How are you doin’?”

LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: Just fine, Jack. How are you?

“Great, thanks.”

Thank you for taking some time out to do this.

“Oh, yeah, my pleasure. I’m excited about coming out that way.”

You are not on the MTV Rock the Vote bus?

“No. You know, actually, I’m just coming out for one show. Farm Aid really was the thing that I was jumping on board to do, and then we learned that there was a show nearby a few days ahead of time, so we thought we’d come out early and be able to do at least one show for Rock The Vote.”

So give me sort of a primer, an explanation, of how you got involved with Farm Aid.

“Sure. In two ways, actually. It’s both a connection to the musicians putting it on, and a great respect for all those guys, and it’s also – we have a foundation in Hawaii, it’s called the Kokua Hawaii Foundation – and it’s been going for about 10 years now. And we focus on a lot similar things – it’s basically an environmental education, non-profit organization we have here. And we focus on different aspects of that, but one of the things we do is try to connect kids to their food at a young age and the long-term goal is basically supporting local agriculture here in Hawaii; supporting the farmers and just all those obvious reasons. It’s better for the community, it’s better for the economy here, it’s better for the environment. And especially here, so much of our food is shipped in – I think about 90; well they say between 80 and 90 percent of our food is shipped in to Hawaii. With the food miles being a little extra because of fact that we’re a group of islands out in the middle of the Pacific here, it makes it an even more important reason to support local farmers.

“And so both our interest in working in that field and getting a chance to meet all those different musicians – Neil Young, I got invited to play the Bridge School Benefit [an annual concert started 26 years ago to benefit Bridge School, an organization Neil and Pegi Young founded to aid children with severe physical disabilities and speech impairments] for the first time in 2003 and was really impressed by what they were doing, and it was actually a big reason why my wife and I started the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, was visiting that first time we were able to play the Bridge School Benefit, just really being inspired how much they were giving back and all the energy around the whole event.

“And then Willie Nelson is somebody – you know all these guys – I’ve been a fan of before I ever had a chance to play music in front of anybody. And Willie, when I first started touring, I heard about him running all his buses and trucks on biodiesel – sustainably grown biodiesel or recycled vegetable oil and I was excited about that. You know, out thing was growing and all of a sudden I saw that our production was growing, and to see all these trucks and buses, you know, trucking around the globe – it was nice to be able to do something to make an effort to try to lessen that impact. And so I’ve gotten different ideas from all these guys. You know, Dave Matthews, as well, is somebody who I’ve had a chance to play some music with, and both Willie and Dave have come to Hawaii to support our foundation and play at a festival we do as a fund-raiser. So I was excited to get a chance to come out and support something they’re doing on a national level and to learn more about what they’re doing and see how they overlap.”

And logistically, it was just a matter of one of those guys asking you? Is that how it came about?

“Yeah. You know, I’ve been trying to play Farm Aid for years now and our tour, unfortunately, hasn’t been able to line up with it. We were always on a different continent or something like that. And so this year we’re actually taking a year off from touring. And at first I was about to say no again – then I realized that was just too many times, and I really wanted to make the event. So it’s one of the few concerts we’re playing this year is the Farm Aid show.”

Wow. So on a broader scale or in a broader sense, I wanted to talk about the fact that you are such an artist known for getting involved in causes or to lending your talent to causes. And I was wondering: Is there a general reason you do that? I mean, are you that type of person, or is a specific reason you become involved in fund-raising and support causes?

“It just came really natural for me and our whole team – the musicians in the band, the guys we tour with, they’re all a bunch of my best friends. I’m lucky enough to be able to say that all the guys we travel with, it’s like a family road trip when we go out there. And I’ve had the same guys in the band since the first album . I’ve had the same guys working around us since the first tour we ever did. You know, the first guys that came out and were helping us in this little mini-van and just loading the drums in the little clubs are the same guys that tour with us still. I mean, it’s grown a little and we’ve added more friends.

“But since the very beginning, those little club shows, when we were barely able to fill up the smallest clubs, I started getting asked by Surfrider Foundation or other groups like Heal The Band down in the L.A. area, or Heal The Ocean in Santa Barbara, where I spent some time going to college. And these groups would – when they saw that we could draw a small crowd, we started doing these little fund-raisers for local non-profit groups like that. And it was just really rewarding to be able to show up, fill up a room and have a good time, but know that you’re doing something that’s more important than just yourself and shining that spotlight on something that you feel is important. It’s a rewarding.

“And I guess as the music grew and the whole touring thing, we were able to grow what we do – not only in raising funds for different groups, but trying to draw attention to these groups when we tour. We felt like when we visited a place, it was nice to be able to feel like as we drove off, we were leaving the place in better shape than when we showed up by drawing attention to these nonprofit groups and getting people to sign up and become members and get active in their communities. And then also to be able to donate money from those shows to those groups. ‘Cause you know, I just felt that if people were going to be nice enough to come out and fill up a room or amphitheater, it would be nice for us to do something for their community. And that’s just kind of how I’ve always felt.”

Wow, it’s really refreshing to hear something like that, and that genuine of an approach to it. What prompted you, then, to start your own charitable organization -- is it the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation?

“Yeah, you know, we have two. We have one called the Kokua Hawaii Foundation and we’ve had that for about 10 years now. I blame my wife for that [laughs], in a really good way. She was an educator – she taught high school math for four years before I stole her away as my first tour manager. And she really wanted to stay involved in eduction, and so when we had the chance, we started this non-profit that was focused in Hawaii, where I was lucky enough to come home to. And we just wanted to start to be able to work with the schools here. And so that foundation focuses on Hawaii – like I talked about before, it’s environmental education in the schools here. Trying to help with getting recycling started in the schools, trying to help with getting school gardens in, funding field trips for kids to get out into nature and things like that.

“And then as we started touring more, we realized we wanted to do something similar, kind of like I was saying, in all the communities we visited. And that’s how we started Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation. And the idea with that was to be able to fund groups that we learned about on the road and like a lot. So those are the two different groups.”

Yeah, and I noted as I prepared for this interview that all of the profits from you live album are going to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation.

“Yeah, that last live one. And then we actually, we did one called ‘En Concert,’ there was another live one, and that one went to the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation. And then, actually, our last two or three tours – ever since 2008, we’ve made the touring more or less the non-profit of what we do, and we’ve donated 100 percent of the tour proceeds to charity.”

The idea of putting out the live albums – is that the impetus behind it, or were you wanting to put out live music anyway and just decided to do that.

“Yeah, jut a combination of the two. We thought it was a great resource. But really it was fun to get some of that live music out there because it’s so easy to record the shows with the technology these days. It’s not like you have to decide and set up and record one show. Our sound guy basically records every show we do, and so we have all these things sitting here. Just seemed like a fun idea to share them.”

Are you working any new music at this point? I guess it’s been two years or so since the last proper album. Are you working on new music?

“Yeah. I sort of always am. I never really go through the phases of sitting down to write or giving myself time to. It’s just … well, I probably should more now. I have three kids – so it’s harder and harder to find the time to write. But I have more and more inspiration to write. To be honest, it’s … a lot of it is just after the kids are asleep, then I’ll sit at the piano or I’ll pick up the guitar. Or while they’re awake. I tend to write more and more songs about ‘It’s important to brush your teeth.’ Or ‘Stop picking your nose,’ things like that, to make the kids laugh. But I promise those won’t make it on the next album.”

You know, I just got to ask you in a general sense about the music that you produce: To me, I’m an older guy, and I’ve been around through a lot of different phases of music. Is it surprising to you at all the type of music that you do has connected so well with younger people?

“Yeah. I mean, if it surprises anybody, it’s mean more than the rest of the world [Laughs]. Just to rewind, I remember getting invited to come out on tour with Ben Harper for the summer of 2001, and I just was playing – I was making surf movies at the time, and it was a dream job. I got to travel around and make these surf films – barely breaking even, paying rent and what not, but it was a dream job anyways when you’re that age. And then I got invited to come out for the summer and I just thought it was a break from what I was doing. I thought that would be the highlight: I would be bragging to my kids that I opened for Ben Harper one day.

“And we did that tour and it just sort of kept growing, and it just as some point became abstract. You know, it was planting a little garden. I remember I was on this great independent label – I’m still friends with the guy who started it. And one of the guys who was involved with Ben Harper’s career, [producer] J.P. Plunier, who produced a few of his albums, he produced two of my albums and we’re still great friends. But anyway, he had started this little label up, partly right at the same time. I was the first album on the label. And you know, we all looked at it like starting a little garden and seeing if the thing could grow. And it was fun to go out there and go from town to town and actually see that we started selling records in the places we played.

“And then the songs got on the radio a little bit, and kind of it got away from us to the point … I mean, it was all fun, but it just became abstract. The numbers, I couldn’t even really fathom. You know, I used to be able to look and think, ‘OK, we’ve sold 20,000 records. That would be about the same size as The Hollywood Bowl, which I’d seen some bands play. You know, that’s 20,000 people or something like that. And you could picture all the people who had your album in one place. And then, when somebody told me the album went gold, and then real quickly after that it was platinum, I just couldn’t picture what that amount of people looked like anymore, and I stopped trying. And it was all very exciting and fun, but very abstract.

“And going back to your question, it was really surprising.”

And things are still going really well. “To the Sea,” if I read it correctly, gave you your highest-charting single so far. “You and Your Heart” is the highest-charting single you’ve had, I think.

“Probably. It was fun. I feel lucky any time we get a song that seems to connect. You know, it’s always fun to play your newest material when you’re playing live. There’s that balance of making sure you’re playing the songs people want to hear and then also playing the ones that are fun for you to play at the time. And so it’s a lucky thing when those two things overlap and you’re actually getting to play your new material and people seem like they want to hear it.”

So just one last question: In preparation for Farm Aid, have you, like, talked or worked with Willie or John Mellencamp or Neil Young or anything in preparation for it, or is this, for you, just going to be going in there and doing the show?

“Yeah, it’s just going to be going in and doing the show. Hopefully we’ll do some collaborations. We’ll see. You know, a lot of times, those sit-ins just work themselves out 10 minutes before you go up on the stage [Laughs]. Um, and so we’ll see. I’ve never been to Farm Aid. I’m not sure how much of that is part of it. I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate. I’ve never met John Mellencamp, so I’ll be excited to meet him. But Dave Matthews and Neil and Willie, I’ve played music with all those guys and it’s definitely some of the musical highlights of my life, those moments on stage with those guys. So we’ll see what happens this time around.

“But for me, it’s just fun to get together with the band again. We haven’t played in awhile, so it’s a great reason to get to hang out and play some music.”

I really love jack Johnson. I saw him at roo in 07 and it was one of the happiest shows ive been to. Sometimes I think hes underrated because a lot of his songs sound the same, but he really is a great lyricist. Great post keep up the hard work. Check these out IStillGotMyGuitar.

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.